NGS Conference - online connections

I can’t be there but I’ll be thinking about all the wonderful happenings at the National Genealogical Society Conference starting next week in Cincinnati. If you are going – congratulations! Last year’s conference in Charleston was wonderful.

Whether you are going or not don’t miss out on the web activities that will accompany the event. There is a daily blog at http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/.

Additional social media connections are: (from their site)

·        Follow us on Twitter (@ngsgenealogy).

·        Friend us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ngsgenealogy).

·        Send us a tweet @ngsgenealogy for general information or use the hashtag #ngs2012 for Annual Conference-related tweets.

The hosting organization’s website http://www.ngsgenealogy.org has member’s only areas in addition to free areas that include videos on genealogy in general and information on their well respected home study course.

·        Paths to Your Past (88MB)

·        National Genealogical Society Conferences (27.6MB)

·        National Genealogical Society Home Study Course (17.3MB)

·        Finding Your Family at the National Archives (25.8MB)

·        NGS & NARA (21.4MB)

So, think about attending some of the conference social media connections and as always,

Happy Hunting! 

Just when you thought this blog had gone dormant, I’m back! In reality, it’s just two more weeks until weekly blogs resume. I appreciate your taking time to read my blog and I thank you.

I have been teaching for Coastal Carolina’s Osher Lifelong Learning program and my last few weeks of classes have required more of my time and genealogy has had to wait. By May 1^st, though, the semester will be over (for me) and I can return to my genealogy on a regular basis.

It’s odd that I call it “my genealogy” when it’s truly my family’s genealogy. I wonder why it is that only one person every few generations really feels the call to delve into the family history in the USA. I had the privilege of working with a graduate student from South Korea and he was shocked that I did not know my lineage and he was even more shocked when I did not know the meaning of my name! He explained to me that in his culture it was very important to know both. I’d never even thought about the meaning of my name. I knew who I was named after but not the meaning of my name, itself.

So for those of you with the curiosity I had – http://www.meaning-of-names.com can help you discover the meaning of your given and family names. There are also links there to other sites for more ethnic names that do not often appear in many English based resources. Of course, you could use Google or Bing or some other search engine, too. The site I mentioned, though, showed me the meaning of my given name in four different nationalities. For me, the meaning did not change but I’m sure that is different depending on the name. There were also links for specific genealogy sites based on my family name and, of course, the requsite advertisers of family crests.

Happy Hunting!